I shall never forget his face of astonishment and disgust.
It was after this, chiefly to avoid remark, and also because
our clothes were wearing out and had to be saved up, that we
resolved to adopt the native dress; and a very comfortable one
we found it, though I am bound to say that I looked sufficiently
ridiculous in it, and as for Alphonse! Only Umslopogaas would
have none of these things; when his moocha was worn out the fierce
old Zulu made him a new one, and went about unconcerned, as grim
and naked as his own battleaxe.
Meanwhile we pursued our study of the language steadily and made
very good progress. On the morning following our adventure in
the temple, three grave and reverend signiors presented themselves
armed with manuscript books, ink-horns and feather pens, and
indicated that they had been sent to teach us. So, with the
exception of Umslopogaas, we all buckled to with a will, doing
four hours a day. As for Umslopogaas, he would have none of
that either. He did not wish to learn that 'woman's talk', not
he; and when one of the teachers advanced on him with a book
and an ink-horn and waved them before him in a mild persuasive
way, much as a churchwarden invitingly shakes the offertory bag
under the nose of a rich but niggardly parishioner, he sprang
up with a fierce oath and flashed Inkosi-kaas before the eyes
of our learned friend, and there was an end of the attempt to
teach _him_ Zu-Vendi.
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